I’d like to tell you that I am planning in advance for the upcoming holiday of love, Valentine’s Day. I’d like to tell you that I thought long and hard about what was a perfect Valentine dessert. I’d like to tell you I did not eat two pieces of this last night….but then I would be lying to you. In reality, I wanted cake, and so did the hubby. When hubby wants cake, and I can’t see a reason why I shouldn’t also have cake (besides a large uptick in the number on the scales beneath my toes), then cake must be baked!
I have been talking about making a red velvet cake for a long time, but had never tried. I originally wanted to make cupcakes, but they are harder to store in my tiny fridge. Cupcakes would be a nice way to say “I love you, but not so much that I want you to eat a whole cake with me”, ’cause that is true love, just ask Mr. Guilty. But in case you do want to make a whole cake, say for a large family, or a pregnant women, I have left the default recipe as a cake. There are instructions at the bottom of the recipe regarding turning them into cupcakes.
I based this recipe on the mocha cake I made for Mr. Guilty’s birthday last year, so it is not your traditional Red Velvet Cake. Most recipes for Red Velvet cake contain such a negligible amount of cocoa, that they might as well just be buttermilk cakes, but I like me some chocolate, so I went with my little heart’s desire. The frosting is not your typical cream cheese frosting either. If you’ve ever made any of my cake recipes, you may have noticed that this family prefers a lighter taste. We don’t appreciate overly sticky, thick frosting for our light as air cakes, we much prefer a lighter variation. The addition of whipped cream makes the frosting lighter, but it also makes the frosting a bit more runny. So if you plan on transporting this cake (or cupcakes) you may want to leave out the whipped cream and make the more traditional variation.
Feel free to add more red dye as you see fit, as this turned out a mildly red colour, but it could have been stronger (I ran out of colouring!).
Red Velvet Cake
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp red food colouring
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp white vinegar
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 2 9″ baking pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Beat butter until fluffy, add sugar and beat until incorporated.
3. Add eggs one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl until fully incorporated.
4. In large bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In separate bowl, mix together buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla and food colouring.
5. Add half of dry ingredients to butter/egg mix, then half of wet. Repeat process until all is mixed together.
6. Pour into lined baking sheets and bake for 22-25 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool on baking rack in pans for 5-10 minutes. Remove from pans by inverting onto cooling rack and allow to cool completely before decorating.
Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup whipping cream
1-2 cups icing sugar
1 vanilla pod
1. In bowl of electric mixer, beat whipping cream until light and fluffy. Set aside.
2. Clean bowl and add butter and cream cheese. Beat until fluffy.
3. Slowly add in whipping cream until incorporated.
4. Add in vanilla pod and sugar to taste.
5. Decorate cake!
**Note: To make cupcakes line baking trays with liners and fill 1/2-3/4 of the way full. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes in pans before transferring to cooling rack. Decorate when completely cooled.
I promised pizza, and I always follow through with what I say. That being said, this is not a healthy pizza, nor is it a traditional or otherwise special pizza. This is pizza you make for yourself and your family when you really want a good tasting pizza crust and no added costs for delivery and tip. This is a no fail crust recipe, and I’ve made it many, many times. Whatever flavourings you add into the dough, will come out loud and proud in that crust.
I have also offered a quick chicken and mushroom pizza recipe at the bottom of the post, as I know it can sometimes be hard to think of toppings to add to your own pizza without the help of a menu.
Sometimes my cravings get the better of me, and this was no exception. Please accept my apologies for the amount of cheese and artery hardening fats you are about to consume, but they are worth it.
All Purpose Pizza Crust
(yield: 2 Large regular crusts or 3 large thin crusts)
1/2 cup warm milk or water
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 1/4 cups room temperature water
2 Tbsp olive oil
4-5 cups whole wheat flour (or half whole wheat, half white)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh rosemary, minced
1 tsp each garlic powder (or one clove garlic, minced), oregano, basil and marjoram
butter or oil to grease bowl
1. Place warm water in small bowl, stir in sugar and yeast. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes. Yeast will expand and foam up, if it does not, discard yeast and try again. You may need to buy new yeast if it does not expand and foam.
2. Add room temperature water and oil to yeast mixture, stir to combine.
3. In separate bowl, mix flour, salt and herbs.
4. Slowly pour liquid into flour mixture, stirring to combine.
5. Using your hands, continue to add flour and knead (in bowl is the most convenient, but you could do this on the counter as well) to form a ball of dough. You may need to add more or less flour as needed. Continue to knead for 5-10 minutes until dough becomes smooth and elastic.
6. Oil a new bowl, set ball of dough inside and cover with a moist towel. Let rise for 1 1/2 -2 hours, or until dough has doubled in size.
7. When ready, separate dough into two (or three) balls. Roll out or stretch out with your hands to form crusts. You may want to fold the edges into themselves to make a puffy thick crust to hold in all your toppings, but for a thin crust, no need.
8. Preheat oven to 425°F. Place pizza stone inside oven to preheat. (If you do not have a pizza stone, try using a splatter guard that is the size you require. The mesh allows the crust to breathe properly. Or you can use a pizza baking pan, the kind with holes in it. Do not use a regular baking pan, as the crust will steam itself and become soggy.
9. On a piece of heavily floured cardboard roughly the same size as the pizza stone or other baking implement, form your pizza!
10. Place formed dough on cardboard and pour and spread the sauce over, right to the edges. Next, sprinkle the toppings over and any seasonings you want to add. Last, but not least, spread grated cheeses over your pizza.
Going into the oven
11. The tricky part is getting the dough onto the preheated pizza stone.I use a spatula or other flat cooking implement and with all that flour it should slide right onto the pizza stone.
12. Bake for 25 minutes, or until cheese begins to brown a bit and bubble.
Chicken, Bacon & Mushroom Pizza
(for two regular pizzas)
1-2lbs. chicken fillets or breasts, cut into small chunks
6-9 slices of bacon
1 yellow pepper, cut into thin strips
1 1/2 lbs. mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup black olives, sliced
3/4-1 cup cup pizza sauce (tomato or cream based)
500-700 grams Mozzarella, shredded
1/2 cup each cheddar and Parmesan cheese, shredded
1. To avoid over saturating pizza in liquid, cook mushrooms before hand. In small sauté pan, add mushrooms and a small amount of butter. Cook until all liquid has evaporated.
2. In same sauté pan, cook chicken chunks for 1-2 minuets. You want the outside to be cooked, but still pink in the middle. If you cook the chicken all the way it will be dry and overdone by the time your pizza is finished baking.
3. Cook bacon in sauté pan until crisp, drain on paper towels and break or chop into small pieces.
4. Follow instructions in above crust recipe to assemble and cook your pizza.
I admit, I’m not much of a fan of having fruit or other “dessert” related toppings added to my meat or seafood. Cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving? Umm, no thanks. Mint sauce on my lamb? Are you kidding me? Applesauce on my porkchops? I’d rather have a little Dijon to dip in. You get the idea.
So, when reading a popular Canadian Parenting magazine the other night, I found myself surprised to be slightly salivating at the mouth at the suggestion of what one should be eating on a regular basis. A doctor had said the the four best things to eat (health and nutrition wise) were blueberries, salmon, spinach and nuts. I started thinking to myself, “Well, those would be a perfect compliment to one another in a meal.” The first thing that came to mind was a fresh, wild caught salmon fillet, smothered in a savory blueberry sauce, laying on a thick bed of spinach. The nuts, well, I couldn’t think of a way to add them, save for making salmon cakes and coating them in nuts. Too much work for my Saturday night dinner, thank you very much.
So I give you my ultra healthy (save for all that butter, but you know me) take on three of the four best foods to be eating. You will be getting omega-3s (the best kind), vitamin A, iron, protein, vitamin B6, folic acid, calcium, copper, selenium, vitamin, E, vitamin C, manganese, magnesium, niacin, etc. As well as loads of antioxidants from the blueberries. So, think of this as my gift to you for your health. Enjoy!
Baked Salmon with Blueberry Sauce
2 wild salmon fillets, skin on
2 Tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, grated or minced
Blueberry Sauce
1 Tbsp cornstarch
juice from half a lemon
5 oz. frozen blueberries
2 Tbsp Crema Di Balsamico
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 tsp fresh thyme
black pepper to taste
2 Tbsp butter
1. In small bowl, mix butter and garlic.
2. Pat salmon dry with cloth or paper towel, then rub with butter and garlic mixture. Season with salt and pepper.
3. In small glass or bowl, mix lemon juice and cornstarch until combined. Pour into small sauce pan along with remaining sauce ingredients (save for the butter, this will go in just before serving).
4. Bring sauce to a simmer and continue to cook on low for 20-30 minutes, which will reduce the sauce by approximately half the volume.
5. Preheat oven to 400°F. Meanwhile, in an oven proof sauté pan, heat a small amount of butter on med/high. When temperature is high enough, lay salmon, skin side down in pan. Fry for 1-2 minutes or until the flesh just begins to turn from pink (or red) to a white-ish colour. Remove pan from heat and place in oven. Continue to cook in oven for another 7-8 minutes or until just cooked. Salmon flesh should spring back just slightly when pushed on with one finger.
6. Stir butter into blueberry sauce to finish and pour over salmon fillets just before serving.
This meal may look complicated and gourmet, but in reality it takes about 30 minutes to make, and about 5 minutes flat to eat. Serve on a bed of steamed spinach for ultimate nutrition.
What do those words conjure up for you? To me it means avocados, corn tortillas, limes, salt, tequila and meat. I’ve never really had a bad experience with Mexican food, save for all those awful hangovers from tequila. Even on trips to Mexico, I’ve never been disappointed. I think the only time may have been when ordering something somewhere (*ahem*Taco*ahem*Bell), which I don’t know if I actually would consider “Mexican food”, more a cheap knock off. The same way in which Western pizza is a knock off of a wonderful dish from Naples . Many in Naples consider only two pizzas as “real” or “pure”, known as the Marinara and the Margherita. What we have in North America is somewhat better described as pizza pie, stacked to the nines with so many toppings, the crust becomes more of a transportation device from plate to mouth. (Don’t fret though, I have one recipe on Guilty Kitchen already, and come back next week for another!)
I love a good, authentic dish from anywhere on the planet. Why? I prefer the unadulterated version as my first experience, so that I may take it home and alter it myself based solely on an original recipe that dates back for generations. I like to know I’ve tried the “real deal”. A good example for me is salsa. Salsa found lining the shelves of your local grocery store can be better defined as a sort of tomato sauce, thick and full of chunky tomatoes, onions and peppers. Salsa, as defined by Wikipedia, refers to any sauce.
When on travels to Mexico, which foodies like myself would highly recommend, there are usually three varieties that are offered with your meal: salsa verde (green sauce), salsa roja (red sauce) and salsa cruda or pico de Gallo (raw sauce). The red and green sauces are very liquidy and the green more spicy than the red. The pico de gallo is my favourite, a chunky, fresh, drier variety of salsa, perfect for dipping. In any case, salsa is subjective; people will like what they prefer and so forth.
The dish on offer today is Cochinita Pibil. A pork dish originally from the Yucatan, now enjoyed all over Mexico. It is hard to find a true recipe though, as it seems everyone has taken their turn in making it their own. My mother introduced me to this recipe a few years back; her’s was simple, with only five or six ingredients and it was very sweet. I loved it, but upon talking to my sister the other day about the recipe, neither of us could come up with it. Being that my mother is currently out of communication somewhere on a nice beach on the Baja, I had to make do with my own interpretation.
My personal recipe is slightly sweet, a little spicy and full of strong flavours. Use more pork to tone down the recipe, or tweak it as you go.
Cochinita Pibil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 1-2 lb pork loin roast (shoulder, butt or leg roast would be awesome too)
2 L water
4 bay leaves
3/4 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp oregano
3/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 bar achiote paste (about 4 oz)
juice of 1 lime
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
330ml 100% orange juice concentrate
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 large chipotle chile in adobo sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 large onion, halved and sliced
1. Place loin in large pot, sprinkle with salt and white pepper.
2. Pour water over, add bay leaves and bring to boil.
3. Lower to simmer, cover and and continue to cook at a low simmer for 2 hours.
4. In blender add all remaining ingredients, except onion. Blend in pulses until completely combined.
5. Transfer pork loin to another large pot (or you can put it on a plate while you measure out the remaining water).
6. Measure out remaining water, you will need 3 cups.
7. Put pork loin in pot, grab two forks and begin pulling the meat apart, essentially “shredding” it.
8. Pour achiote mix over and add 3 cups of the simmering water.
9. Simmer for the next 2-6 hours. I simmered mine for 6, and it came out just divine. Uncovered, and the water will evaporate faster, so if you plan on simmering for 6 hours, keep the lid on for the first 4 and then remove it.
10. Add the sliced onion in the last 60 minutes, stirring often to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Most of the liquid should be gone now, leaving you with a nice, moist consistency.
Serve in tacos, with guacamole and sour cream, or by itself. I like the sour cream to curb the spiciness. You could also serve this with taco chips or over a salad. Whatever you want to do with it, it will be out of this world.
To accompany your cochinita pibil, my mother (who lives in the Baja for 6 months of the year) serves jicama and cucumbers, coated in lime juice and a sprinkle of salt at the last minute. They are refreshing, crunchy and amazing with this meal. My local grocery store had some pretty sad, moldy jicama when I checked, so we went with just cucumbers.
The condition of being pregnant: a test for pregnancy.
An instance of being pregnant: Her second pregnancy was easy.
The period during which one is pregnant: the first trimester of pregnancy.
Period of time in which one is subjected to constant criticism over what one should eat.
Period of time in which one is banned from eating all the foods one loves.
The quality or condition of being rich in significance, import, or implication.
Creativity; inventiveness.
Adapted from Dictionary.com
Ah, pregnancy, a time in your life to cherish. In time in which you are “glowing” and everyone remarks on the lovely beauty of bringing a child into the world. The part no one talks about until you are too far in to back out, is the food. Current guidelines for pregnant women ban all sorts of delicious foods that would normally be fine for any able bodied human. Food that “may” cause harm, but best not to risk it.
Let’s list off some of these foods. If you’ve never been pregnant or don’t know anyone intimately enough to know their eating habits whilst pregnant, I will enlighten you.
Foods Banned completely during pregnancy:
Soft cheeses (BRIE!)
raw and undercooked eggs (the ONLY kind I eat, and which also means no cookie dough)
meat cooked below medium (is there such a thing?)
Deli meats and patés (no cheese and meat platters for me over the holidays)
Sushi containing raw fish (what do Japanese women do then?)
So there you have it, the not so glamorous side of pregnancy for food lovers.
So, it is in this vein of thinking that I created a meal close to one I would enjoy regularly alongside a nice big plate of raw fish. One of my favourite things to order for lunch when I worked in a busy office, was the unagi bowl. Unagi is barbequed eel slathered in a sweet sauce called kabayaki. It is served on a bed of rice and more kabayaki is poured over. Delicious! When we would go out for sushi for dinner, I would always have unagi rolls or nigiri and all assortments of other, more raw bits as well. Well, now that I am in the family way, raw fish is out, and therefore, I have to be a bit more creative.
So if you, like me, cannot eat raw fish, or maybe you simply cannot stomach it, then try this “sushi” bowl on for size.
Deconstructed Sushi Bowl
1 cup brown rice
2 1/4 cups water or broth
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt
300g mixed seafood (I used prawns, octopus, squid and mussels)
2 green onions, sliced
3 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
2 Tbsp Mirin
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp shiracha chili sauce
1 Tbsp dry wakame seaweed
1 avocado, sliced
sesame seeds (optional)
1. Add water, rice, butter and salt to a medium size sauce pan. Bring to a boil, stir a few times, lower to simmer for 45 minutes.
2. In small saucepan, combine green onions, soy sauce, Mirin, sesame oil, rice vinegar, garlic and chili sauce. Heat to simmer and continue to simmer for about 5 minutes.
3. Reconstitute seaweed. In small bowl, add dry seaweed flakes and 1/4 cup hot or boiling water. Allow to sit for 5 minutes.
4. In a small sauté pan, heat 1 tbsp butter and add in seafood. Sauté for 5-6 minutes, just enough to cook thoroughly.
5. Slice your avocado, and set aside.
6. In bowls, layer rice, seaweed and seafood. Pour sauce generously over top. Top with 1/2 of the sliced avocado.
7. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired and serve. Kampai!
Hi! I'm Elizabeth. I like fitness, bad ass tattoos, food, bacon, chocolate, taking lots of silly pictures and my spawn. Check out my FAQ for all the usual Qs or send me an e-mail and tell me all about your cat and your Aunt Sally's amazing apple pie.
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These books are all the goodness of my blog in a cute little package that I've poured my heart and soul into. Each recipe has a beautiful image to accompany it and all the recipes are easy and approachable. Everything is gluten free, mostly paleo and damn delicious.
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